A school - said by inspectors to require improvement - won’t rest until it is judged outstanding, its headteacher vowed today.

Riverdale Primary has received a "three grade" - or “requires improvement” - for overall effectiveness in its latest Ofsted inspection.

The Hambleton Avenue, Redcar school also was rated three in all sub-categories - achievement of pupils, quality of teaching, behaviour and safety of pupils and leadership and management.

Among the areas spotlighted as needing improvement are pupils’ rate of progress, pupils’ “limited” knowledge and understanding of the wider world and “not enough good or outstanding” teaching in all years.

The school’s judgment about the quality of teaching is “too generous”, the report says, while some boys aren’t given clear boundaries and their “lack of interest in learning” is not tackled.

But several strengths are also highlighted, with pupils feeling “safe and secure”, reports of bullying “very rare” and the “spiritual, moral and social development and academic progress” of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds “improving quickly.”

And the report acknowledges: “This is an improving school”.

It adds: “The headteacher provides the school with strong leadership.

"She has successfully steered it through a rocky patch and has acted on sage advice from the local authority. The school is not a good school yet but is well on the way.”

Headteacher Kirsty Reilly said it was the first time the school had been graded under a new inspection framework, widely considered as the toughest yet.

She added: “We welcome the findings of the inspectors and we are grateful that they have acknowledged the challenges we faced.

“Everybody at the school is working hard to put the recommendations in place and we are already seeing fantastic achievements from our hardworking pupils.

“In fact, this year we have seen our best ever results and we are now well above the national average for achievement.

“Unfortunately Ofsted cannot take these results in isolation and must consider the last three years’ data.

“However, the inspectors noted in their report that we are ‘well on the way’ towards being a good school and we will not rest until we are outstanding.”